Republican readying anti-$1 trillion coin bill

Rep. Greg Walden is out to be the skunk at the $1 trillion coin party.

The Oregon Republican said Monday that he’s planning to introduce legislation that would bar the Treasury from minting a trillion-dollar coin to allow the government to get around the debt ceiling.

The idea has backing from liberal economist Paul Krugman and more than 4,000 backers have signed on to a White House petition.

Walden said his bill would “take the coin scheme off the table” by barring the Treasury from minting the coin as a way to pay down the U.S. debt.

“We must reduce spending and get our fiscal house in order,” Walden said.

Walden and other congressional Republicans have their sights set on reducing spending in upcoming talks with the White House over the debt ceiling and the budget “sequester” — Washington-speak for automatic spending cuts. President Barack Obama says he won’t negotiate around the debt ceiling.

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York is in the opposite camp as Walden. He says the trillion-dollar coin is one of two options available to Obama; another is for the president to use his power under the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment, which says that the validity of the public debt “shall not be questioned.”